Partnership with the National Consortium of Academics and Sports (NCAS)

Benefits of TEAMwork Leadership Institute (TLI) include the development of cohesion among staff, enhanced skills for coaches working with diverse athletes, and the development of a strategic plan for dealing with issues when they occur. Ultimately, training develops leadership
that fosters inclusion and equality in the organization. The TLI program has facilitated over 500 diversity education and training workshops since 1997. TLI also provides a “crisis intervention” service that provides individual or small group sensitivity training within an organization. This service is directed at specific issues relative to the immediate need for sensitivity, awareness and/or education. We have provided workshops or intervention services for numerous
universities and sports organizations across the nation and abroad.

Branded a Leader (BAL) is a leadership program that teaches critical decision-making skills to student-athletes while challenging them to be responsible for their decisions and those of their teammates. BAL is a highly interactive training that engages student-athletes in unusually effective ways. BAL trainings are also utilized for coaches and staff.

Branded a Leader, created in 2008 by the National Consortium for Academics & Sports (NCAS), was developed in partnership with Michigan State University. Michigan State’s Student Athlete Support Services was seeking a training that would engage their student-athletes in educational discussions on key issues such as: Violence Against Women, Alcohol & Drugs, Hazing and Responsible Computing. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) adopted BAL as a conference-wide training initiative beginning in 2008.

Project RESPECT

Project RESPECT (PR) offers state of the art education and training that promotes healthy workplace environments. The PR program provides its participants interactive learning experiences that will not only increase their level of awareness but empower them to take active roles in addressing issues that challenge the health and productivity of workplace environments. As a program of the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS), PR is founded
on thirty years of experience in the field of personal and professional development for members
of the sports community.

Nationally, student-athletes at NCAS institutions have worked with over 19.6 million students in school outreach and community service programs. Collectively, these student-athletes have donated more than 30.5 million hours of service while NCAS member institutions have donated more than $300 million in tuition assistance. The NCAS is collectively the nation’s largest and most highly recognized outreach and community service program using student-athletes to reach children. More than 95 percent of NCAS programs directly benefit children.

The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) National Partnership was established in 2006 to leverage the influence of the Center for the Study of Sport in Society (SIS) and the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS) to expand this critical leadership message to larger numbers of change agents. MVP trainings are facilitated discussions, not lectures. They are highly interactive. Awareness Raising and Train the Trainer trainings are utilized to develop concrete options for participants to employ during a range of school or social situations – ranging from inappropriate comments to physical abuse. Additionally, the trainings open dialogue regarding participant leadership around issues such as: the social construction of masculinity as it relates to unhealthy behavior, sexual objectification of women, sexual harassment, battering and sexual assault.

MVP National motivates men and women to work together in preventing gender violence. MVP National was a paradigm-shifter in 1993 by introducing bystander intervention to the domestic and sexual violence prevention education field. The MVP National bystander approach does not involve finger pointing, nor does it blame participants for the widespread problems of gender violence. Instead, it sounds a positive call for proactive, preventative behavior, and leadership.

MVP National is presented in partnership by Northeastern University's Center for the Study
of Sport in Society and the National Consortium for Academics and Sports at the University
of Central Florida.

Athletic Leadership in the 21st Century is delivered at colleges, universities, and professional sports organizations. This workshop is designed to explore the topic of Leadership. Through an examination of our leadership style and a discussion of various types of Leadership
(Transactional, Transformational, Servant), participants are engaged throughout the workshop in identifying how they currently lead and how they may be more effective. At the very core of the workshop is an examination of the relationships that we develop with those that we coach and lead. We explore how those relationships lead to the achievement of individual and team goals, as well as whether or not we are creating a positive and inclusive environment.

Athletic Leadership in the 21st Century is a two-hour block workshop. The interactive nature of the workshop demands participation and full engagement. Participants are engaged through individual and group activities, small group discussions, and larger group discussions as well. Various mediums are used including paper and pencil activities, a Power-Point slide show, flip charts, scenarios, and videos. All of our workshops are delivered by former professional and/or collegiate athletes. This creates an immediate connection and credibility with the audiences we serve.

Athletic Leadership in the 21st Century forces participants to examine how they are connecting, coaching, and transforming those they interact with on a daily basis. Time spent in this workshop helps to ensure that influence is being maximized in a positive manner.

To learn more about Athletic Leadership in the 21st Century, click here.

The National Consortium for Academics and Sport (NCAS) is partnering with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF (UNICEF USA), targeting 10 college and university campuses across the United States. Prominent student-athletes, coaches, athletic administrators and students will speak out and educate peers during a one-week program at each university. The goal is to raise awareness about human trafficking in the United States and to inspire students to take action while learning the value love and forgiveness can have in implementing change. Leaders of the initiative will share their takeaways from the program, and reflect on the power of love and forgiveness to make a difference. Shut Out Trafficking will educate college students on the brutality of human trafficking and the $150 billion dollar industry it has become, and empower students to take action against it. Trafficking is one of the most profitable criminal industries in the world second only to drug trafficking with profits growing by nearly 400 percent in the last five years alone.

Human trafficking is one of the most horrific human rights violations existing in our world today. An estimated 26 to 28 million people—about half of whom are women and children—are enslaved at this very moment. The root causes include poverty, discrimination, lack of education, lack of social and legal protections and violence. The international community is finally mobilizing to protect all human beings from this heinous crime. In the United States, most people who know it exists only believe it is a problem outside our borders. However, trafficking has been reported in all 50 U.S. states, and in the United States alone it is estimated that there are between 100,000 - 300,000 children at risk for sex trafficking.

Their feet covered in mud, three children sit on top of a pile of bricks they have made during a break in their work in the Kuran section of the northern city of Erbil. Internally displaced by ongoing fighting in the northern part of the country, the children work to help support their families and do not attend school.

NCAS and UNICEF USA will host week-long outreach programs on 10 campuses of colleges and universities across the United States. The events will include public service announcements, film screenings, appearances by prominent student-athletes and coaches, and possibly speakers who are survivors of human trafficking and discussion groups with students. Speakers will share their personal stories and their reflections about the power of love and forgiveness in their lives. Students participating in the events will be invited to become active in the fight to end human trafficking. One of the goals of the project is to create a cadre of student activists who will be involved in anti-trafficking work on an ongoing basis.